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This study analyses future changes in temperature and precipitation over the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) throughout the twenty-first century by developing a regional factorial cluster analysis (RFCA) model on the basis of bias correction and spatial disaggregation (BCSD), cluster analysis and multilevel factorial analysis (MFA). In detail, BCSD is presented to downscale climate variables (i.e., daily mean temperature, maximum temperature, and total precipitation) of multiple global climate models (GCMs) under four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). Evaluations shows BCSD can reasonably reproduce high spatial resolution climate predictions, especially temperature variables with great spatial correlation coefficients (i.e., larger than 0.9). Future climate changes are quantified by the Standard Euclidean Distance (SED), indicating climate change over YRB would spatially and seasonally undergo uneven distribution. Temperature changes have an overall south-to-north trend, with high variations in winter and summer. Precipitation changes over the upper reaches in winter and summer have larger variations than lower ones. Two hotspots are clustered with SED stabilities greater than 1.8, distributed in the Tibetan Plateau and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, respectively. The effects of uncertainties (i.e., periods, GCMs and SSPs) and their interactions on predictions are analyzed through MFA. The individual effects of SSPs factor and its interactions with periods are worthy of consideration. The largest variation is observed under SSP585, with a total SED of 1.050; the smallest variation is observed under SSP370, with a total SED of 1.034. The interaction of SSPs and periods leads to a relatively stable interdecadal total SED under SSP126, which remains around 1.040.

The transportation sector has been fundamental in Colombia and faces serious consequences in terms of traffic accidents. This paper examines the relationship between accidentability and most outstanding road infrastructure factors in ten urban stretches of Neiva in the period 2017-2018, following the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the International Road Assessment Program (IRAP) for developing countries in order to characterize the state of road infrastructure of the selected points. The results showed that the central sections of the city tend to be related to the day, time, type of vehicle and victim, attribute and direction of the road. The motorcyclist was the road actor most vulnerable to injuries and fatalities, Saturday and 8:00 am was where more crashes occurred. The road infrastructure factors contributing to accidents highlight the relevance of the environment in the city.

T-welded joints are commonly seen in various industrial assemblies. An effort is made to check the applicability of friction stir welding for producing T-joints made of AA6063-T6 using a developed fixture. Quality T-joints were produced free from any surface defects. The effects of three parameters, such as the speed of rotation of the tool, axial force, and travel speed were analyzed. Correspondingly, mechanical characteristics such as tensile strength, hardness in three zones (thermal heat affected zone, heat affected zone, and nugget zone) and temperature distribution were measured. The full factorial analysis was performed with various combinations of parameters generated using factorial design and responses. Evident changes in the strength, hardness, and temperature profile were noticed for each combination of parameters. The three main parameters were significant in every response with p-values less than 0.05, indicating their importance in the friction stir welding process. Mathematical models developed for investigated responses were satisfactory with high R-sq and least percentage error.

The development of sustainable dielectric materials is crucial for advancing next-generation electronic and energy storage systems. This study investigates the dielectric behavior of coconut-shell-based epoxy composites and evaluates the influence of processing parameters using a two-level factorial design (TLFD) coupled with two-level factorial analysis (TLFA). The effects of filler loading, particle size, and curing condition (non-heated and heated) on lignocellulosic content and the real part of permittivity (ε′) were systematically examined at 5 GHz using a vector network analyzer. At a 40 wt.% filler content, the measured lignocellulosic content reached 58.7% (Kurschner-Hanack), with permittivity values ranging from 3.74 to 4.11. Statistical analysis identified the curing condition as the most significant factor affecting ε′, followed by filler loading and particle size. The novelty of this study lies in applying TLFD and TLFA to quantitatively evaluate how lignocellulosic content influences GHz-range permittivity specifically in coconut-shell-based dielectric composites, a compositional factor that earlier coconut-shell studies have not explicitly examined. This approach demonstrates how statistical modeling, supported by ANOVA, can bridge the relationship between material composition and electromagnetic performance in GHz dielectric composites. The findings establish a systematic framework for optimizing bio-based dielectric materials and demonstrate the potential of coconut-shell-derived composites for sustainable electronic applications.

We propose a new method to impute missing values in mixed data sets. It is based on a principal component method, the factorial analysis for mixed data, which balances the influence of all the variables that are continuous and categorical in the construction of the principal components. Because the imputation uses the principal axes and components, the prediction of the missing values is based on the similarity between individuals and on the relationships between variables. The properties of the method are illustrated via simulations and the quality of the imputation is assessed using real data sets. The method is compared to a recent method (Stekhoven and Buhlmann Bioinformatics 28:113–118, 2011) based on random forest and shows better performance especially for the imputation of categorical variables and situations with highly linear relationships between continuous variables.

The biological reserve of Sidi Boughaba has a unique plant biodiversity, with many animals, including birds, finding refuge there. Data on this biodiversity is old and incomplete. This phytosociological study was carried out to define the vegetation structure of the area. Stratified sampling was carried out and 124 relevés were recorded. Multivariate statistical analyses (correspondence factorial analysis and hierarchical ascending classification) used to process the relevés revealed the presence of 9 plant groups, including 4 plant associations and 5 subassociations, which belong to 3 phytosociological classes ( , and ). is the most widespread in the area, showing several successional stages on grey and consolidated dunes. Vegetation of can only be found on mobile sand. Vegetation of the class occupies an inter-dunar depression on hydromorphic soil. The association is newly described as five subassociations of

Background The concept of quality in health care has evolved, placing greater importance on the patient’s needs, culture, and social context, as well as their participation in clinical decision-making, as highlighted by Mead and Bower’s Person-Centered Care Model. The aim of the present study was to design and validate an instrument to assess the extent to which healthcare services provided by PEMEX (Petróleos Mexicanos) offer person-centered care according to user perceptions. Methods The first phase comprised the development of 57 items based on the analysis of responses from an open-ended questionnaire administered to 30 users of Pemex healthcare services. This questionnaire was designed considering the four factors of the person-centered care model, however, the high correlation between the 4 factors (i.e., r  ≥ .80) indicated an overfactoring effect and consequently an increase in the risk of overfitting. Therefore, an exhaustive analysis of the instrument was performed, starting with the review of the individual behavior of each item, and carrying out exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Using a sample of 330 individuals, an exploratory factor analysis was perfomed. Afterward, a confirmatory factorial analysis was carried out with 335 participants. Finally, a new confirmatory factorial analysis included 130 participants due to the refinements made in the previous phase. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω at every phase. Results The exploratory factor analysis retained 35 items in a single factor that accounted for 49% of the variance with an internal consistency of Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω = 0.97. Because the factorial structure by confirmatory factorial analysis was unsatisfactory, the initial model was refined, leading to the retention of 11 items and a final model with adjustment index of χ2 = 127.53, χ2/gl = 2.89, RMSEA = 0.07, IC RMSEA 0.06 to 0.09, TLI = 0.95 and CFI = 0.96, with an internal consistency of Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω = 0.93. Due to the refinements, a new confirmatory factorial analysis was conducted with suitable goodness-of-fit criteria in most items (χ2 = 151.44, χ2/gl = 3.43, RMSEA = 0.13, IC RMSEA 0.11 to 0.16, TLI = 0.93 and CFI = 0.94), resulting in a Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω = 0.98. Conclusions The instrument exhibits suitable psychometric properties to be employed to measure the degree to which medical care is patient centered. This instrument represents a strategy for promoting an innovative healthcare model.

In South-Kivu province, cattle farming is an integral component of farmers’ livelihoods and one of the few income-generating opportunities for smallholders. However, very few studies have been conducted to characterize smallholders’ cattle production systems. This study documents cattle production systems to better understand their current situation, constraints they face and opportunities they offer. For that purpose, an investigation was conducted based on a structured survey questionnaire and participatory interviews with 863 farmers in South-Kivu province. Collected data were analysed using factorial analysis of mixed data and clustering techniques. The results revealed three types of smallholder cattle farms differing mainly in their herds’ sizes and landholding. The first category is the most common and includes farmers raising small herds (6.3 ± 6.7 cattle) of local breeds in herding system (in this work, “herding system” refers to a rearing system for which the farmer drives and stays with his animals on pastures and fallow land during the day) and grazing fodder in community pastures, fallow lands and roadside grasses, while land constitutes a scarce resource. In the second category, some farmers have small tracts of land (< 5 ha) and others have large tracts (> 5 ha), but all have medium-size herds (45.1 ± 19.4 cattle) made up of local breeds, which they rear in herding system. They also exploit community pastures, fallow land and roadside fodder for animal feeding. The third and last category includes farmers with large cattle herds (78.1 ± 28.1 cattle) of local, crossbred and exotic breeds raised free range in the fenced paddocks on vast areas of land (> 5 ha) found in high-altitude regions. However, while being different according to the above-considered characteristics, the three categories of cattle farming remain extensive pastoral farms dominated by male farmers. Agriculture and/or animal husbandry are their main source of income while their livestock are also composed of goats and poultry, beside cattle. Still, the three farming groups require more inputs and improvement strategies for increased productivity in the challenging environment characterized by low land accessibility and high demand for milk and meat. Fodder cultivation and crop-livestock integration through agro-ecological systems as well as access to credit and extension services are the proposed strategies for the improvement of this economic sector.

Traditional crop varieties are receiving increasing attention in sustainable agriculture, conservation genetics, and plant science because they offer significant and largely unexplored diversity. The DNA profiling of landraces is being applied to numerous crops, yet a detailed knowledge of morphological diversity is often needed to increase the efficiency of both the conservation and exploitation of local germplasm. In this work, morphological, pomological, and fruit-quality traits (16 qualitative and 16 quantitative) were collected from 44 traditional apricot landraces cultivated in Campania, the Italian region with the highest number of traditional varieties. The aim was to assess varietal diversity and to highlight possible trends and phenotypes that may have driven the morphological differentiation. All traits were polymorphic, and each variety had a distinctive phenotype. The qualitative and quantitative traits provided different classifications of the varieties. Nonetheless, the Factorial Analysis of Mixed data indicated that, for both categories of variables, the fruit traits were the most influential for landrace classification. Interestingly, some easily discernible color phenotypes of the fruits mostly contributed to the discrimination of the analyzed apricot germplasm. We conclude that these specific, commercially relevant features of the fruit were important drivers of the differentiation of the cultivated apricot material at regional scale.

Effective functioning of any industrial enterprise entails planning, accounting, and analysis of its basic operational parameters, including profit. A factorial method is proposed for analysis of the profit on sales at a coke plant. This method, adopted at PAO Koks, permits complete analysis of profits in terms of nine basic factors. Each factor is considered separately; the corresponding formulas are presented. As an example, the variation in profits on sales at a hypothetical Enterprise A in period 1 relative to period 2 is subjected to factorial analysis. Conclusions are drawn regarding the influence of each factor. The economic service at an enterprise may use the proposed method to analyze the profits for presentations to different users, with the goal of optimizing costs and increasing income.